ye 
1848.] AUSTEN ON BEDS CONTAINING PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 297 
Marcu 8, 1848. 
The following communications were read :— 
1. On the position in the Cretaceous series of Beds containing Phos- 
phate of Lime. By R. A. C. Austen, Esq., B.A., F.G.S. 
In a letter published in the ‘Gardener’s Chronicle’ of the 19th of 
February last, Mr. Paine of Farnham gives an account of some strata 
in which phosphate of lime is in sufficient abundance to render them 
of considerable importance to agriculture: and the editor of that 
journal, in noticing the value of Mr. Paine’s communication, ex- 
presses a hope that it may lead to a successful search for like under- 
ground wealth in other parts of the country. It is in fulfilment of 
this hope that I propose to describe the true geological age and 
position of the beds in which this mimeral exists. Much interest 
undoubtedly attaches to other parts of the subject—such as the 
chemical inquiry as to the source of so large a quantity of phosphoric 
acid, and the substances with which it is combined and associated ; 
but these inquiries, as well as the circumstances which will eventually 
determine the economical value of these beds, are understood to be 
in the hands of Prof. Way and Mr. Paine, to whom they rightly 
belong. 
The communication to the ‘Gardener’s Chronicle’ is headed, 
‘Discovery of Strata contaiming Phosphate of Lime in the Chalk 
formation :”’ the term “discovery”? however can hardly be employed 
in this instance with strict propriety. The fact of the existence of 
phosphate of lime is stated in almost all the works or memoirs which 
have treated on the mineral character of the middle cretaceous beds ; 
such as those of M. Brongniart, Dr. Buckland, Sir H. De la Beche, Dr. 
Mantell*, and Dr. Fittont+. The latter most fully describes the appear- 
ance and mode of occurrence of the phosphate nodules, when speaking 
of the gault of Folkstone: the chemical composition of these nodules 
is given in a note appended to this part of Dr. Fitton’s memoir, on 
the authorities of Dr. Prout and Dr. Turner, page 111; and at page 
145 he says, “In approaching Farnham, the gault near its contact 
with the sands abounds in nodules containing a large proportion of 
phosphate of lime, resembling those of the vicimity of Folkstone.”’ 
It will be found that I have noticed them as constituting a marked 
character in the same part of the cretaceous series as developed in 
the neighbourhood of Guildford. Mr. Paine’s communication is not 
geological, but rather agricultural and practical ;—its great merit is 
that it calls attention to the fact, that this earth, which geologists had 
merely indicated, has actually been employed by him advantageously 
as a substitute for bone-dust, and that it exists in sufficient abun- 
dance to have an economical value. 
* In a paper read before the Geological Society in February 1843, Dr. Mantell 
pointed out the preservation of the soft parts of mollusca in these beds, forming 
dark carbonaceous substances resembling coprolites, which he named molluskite. 
Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. iv. p. 35. See also Silliman’s Amer. Journ. vol. xlv. p. 243 ; 
or Mantell’s Medals of Creation, vol. i. p. 431. 
+ On the Strata below the Chalk, Geol. Trans., 2nd Series, vol. iv. p. 103. 
